• Shardikprime@lemmy.world
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    10 days ago

    Inb4 this is a penta dimensional play

    Musk accused trump of being, allegedly, on the Epstein list

    The Dems request and approve for this list to be released

    Trump ends not being on the list, but the Dem leadership does

    Absolute trolling + pure cinema

    • Bytemeister@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Except we’ve literally had multiple photographs of Trump and Epstein next to each other at different times for the last 10 years (at least). Trumps connections with Epstein are very public knowledge. Heck, we have firsthand testimony from Trump himself saying that he and Epstein were good friends, and he knows that Epstein was fucking around with very young women.

      If trump was not on the Epstein files list, then I would be immediately suspicious of who else may have been removed, or added, to the list.

    • ameancow@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      He is much worse, but he’s also far less of a threat, as he doesn’t have ANY public mandate, in the form of any kind of following or cultish fandom.

      Trump’s power is almost ENTIRELY a product of how he tapped into the country’s stupid fucking redneck hogs and narcissists and delusional conspiracy nuts. JD has exactly ZERO flat-earthers driving around with his face painted on the side of their van. Having a following of millions of people, even if they are mentally-deficient to a degree that is literally breathtaking, is still power, a great deal of power too because he has them under such tight control.

      Vance might be dangerous in short-term policy decisions, but he doesn’t have electoral power, he doesn’t have chips in the game, he won’t make a dent in senate/house bill votes, he won’t have influence on local and state elections. He’s pre-neutered. The only ones who should be worried about Vance are the white-house sofas.

        • ameancow@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          Yes, I said he’s worse. First line, first paragraph.

          Do you understand political power though? It’s a deep game but even at the highest levels, you can see that just being “bad” or “good” isn’t enough to shape policy and leadership. A president has a job to do, and that job is almost entirely negotiating political favors between various groups and committees and lobbyists. To be able to do this, you have to have both a shrewd understanding of political law and precedent, AND you need political capital.

          Donald Trump has very little understanding of political law and precedent, but he has MASSIVE political capital.

          Vance has none. Just like Stephen Miller, someone who is also literally a sack of insects in human skin, someone like him even being as close to the president as he is, he has no political capital. He would never get elevated to an electoral position so he had to worm his way to an advisor status.

          They could do some harm, but all their attempts at passing policy without political capital will get shot down in the other branches of government. There are a lot of examples of this in history, even recently with presidents who had waning capital like Biden. If you aren’t actively gaming the game, you’re getting left behind.

          • zildjiandrummer1@lemmy.world
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            10 days ago

            You seem to be ignoring the entire class that owns them. Peter Thiel, Marc Andreeson, etc. can “create” political capital through manufacturing it. That’s how Vance even got elected to Senate in the first place.

            He doesn’t resonate as strongly with the MAGA base as Trump of course, but since when did the will of the people matter, especially now that there are loyalists in every notable and important position in the whole of the executive (all agencies), legislative, and judicial branch.

        • ameancow@lemmy.world
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          10 days ago

          While I do believe America is spiraling towards autocracy and dictatorship, it won’t be Vance’s face on the armbands. It will be someone but the way America falls into that hole will be a different path than Venezuela took, mostly because our government is so much larger and more complicated with far more international interests at play, requiring more long-term political capital to be spent to bend the system until it breaks.

    • mercano@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      Yeah, unfortunately, there’s no one in the line of succession I particularly like. At least RFK is #12 and Linda McMahon is #16, both pretty far down.

      • Vinstaal0@feddit.nl
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        10 days ago

        OKey at least there is that. I just want somebody in the US office who will fix the political system to be more compromise based, but I think I’ll sooner see a unicorn irl.

    • GladiusB@lemmy.world
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      10 days ago

      That’s because he’s dumb enough to follow the dumb guy. We all know he’s a fuckin moron.

  • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    Sadly enough, this won’t escalate into anything because Musk didn’t exactly have a lot of friends in the GOP even when Trump’s head was crammed shoulder-deep in his ass. He was only tolerated because the GOP had no other real choice, and they didn’t want to risk him funding a primary challenger. He has lots of money but no actual political clout. Which means I doubt there’s going to be a bunch of Republicans suddenly jumping to Team Musk.

    He’ll probably go the Liz Cheney route of just being ostracized by everybody. But hey, it’ll be a hell of a lot of fun watching all this shit in the meantime.

      • barneypiccolo@lemm.ee
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        10 days ago

        His money is tied up in his companies, which are crashing. Tesla stock is dropping steadily, and the only reason it was making any money at all was because of EV credits, which go away in the Big Beautiful Bill. That’s why he hates it so much. It dooms Tesla, which will be bankrupt within two years.

        Now he’s threatening to decommission the only American spacecraft that goes to the Space Station. That gives the government the excuse to cancel all contracts for Space X, or even confiscate it.

        Kill Tesla and nationalize Space X, and he’s got nothing left.

      • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 days ago

        He already announced he’s done donating to the gop after he burned all that money in wisconsins Supreme Court race.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        They’ll go where the voters go. If public sentiment among the MAGA base stays with Trump, so will they. And Musk isn’t popular enough among the MAGA base (outside of being a rich useful idiot) to significantly shake Trump’s hold.

    • Bad_Engineering@fedia.io
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      11 days ago

      I feel like if he wanted to he could out right buy half the GOP congress people though. Money holds a lot of political power when the politicians are for sale.

    • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Which means I doubt there’s going to be a bunch of Republicans suddenly jumping to Team Musk.

      GOP grifters avoiding the biggest pile of money to grift, and you’re confident grifters will actively avoid it? I’m not so sure. I’m betting a number of opportunistic GOP will sign up on the Musk train if it means getting a paycheck/personal superpac donation.

      • Nightwingdragon@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Of course it’s far too early to tell how this is all going to shake out, but a number of articles are reporting that House Republicans are almost entirely on Trump’s side and lashing out at Musk. While there may be a few grifters from super-safe districts that may speak out, Trump is still the face of the party and his influence goes well beyond money; some of these people may stay on Trump’s side out of fear of retaliation, especially if sentiment among the rank-and-file MAGA base sticks largely with Trump.

    • GooberEar@lemmy.wtf
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      11 days ago

      Because it’s easy to manipulate the general public with these planned out and scheduled spectacles specifically developed to provide cover for all the truly terrible stuff that’s being done just slightly behind the curtains while also giving both sides convenient cover from the other’s failures.

    • Montagge@lemmy.zip
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      11 days ago

      You shouldn’t be. When in history has rich people infighting worked out for poor people?

      I guess it’s great that they’re seemingly not working together, but I find it hard to get excited.

      • mriguy@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        “When the elephants fight, the grass is crushed. When the elephants make love, the grass is crushed.”

    • TommySoda@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      Because he spent the last 4 months balls deep in everything relating to the government and probably has access to all the information he could ever want to take him down. I fucking hate the guy, but it’s one of those “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” kinda situation.

      • BeNotAfraid@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        No, he was just gathering it to hand over to Palantir. Once again, Peter Thiel, the real CEO of paypal is the shadowy puppeteer.

  • PonyOfWar@pawb.social
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    11 days ago

    I was waiting for those two to fall out. Two egos this big were always going to clash sooner or later. This will be entertaining and hopefully damaging to both of them.

  • PotatoLibre@feddit.it
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    11 days ago

    This scenario is quite the best outcome. Two narcissists fighting each other, hopong for a homicide/suicide ❤️

    • Kowowow@lemmy.ca
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      11 days ago

      Oh I bet he’ll pay in some way to have trump challenged for being mentally unfit, I think that’s part of the constitution

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      It’s already happening…

      Musk was the bank that got MAGA elected in places they’d pissed off voters too much to keep winning.

      If musk and trump split, the Republicans in the house and Senate need both musks money and Trump’s cult. They can’t win with either alone.

      They’re already past the point of no return, their egos are too big to make up.

      • AllNewTypeFace@leminal.space
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        11 days ago

        Or they need to abolish free elections before the midterms, arrest noncompliant judges and just have the Trump dynasty rule by decree.

        • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          He couldn’t swing that with the backing of twitter/Facebook

          Like, obviously him trying it is a big concern, but he wouldn’t be able to pull it off. I’d be surprised if he could even hold onto DC after suspendng elections.

          We’d almost certainly see elected Dems immediately relocate to somewhere like Cali, and when push comes to shove, the military would be a 50/50 split at best. Like, trump can put sycophants in top military leadership positions, but that’s not enough.

          That’s the entire point of a chain of command. 10 different chances for someone to grow a spine and tell them to fuck off. All the way down to the guy holding the gun.

          He’s be more likely to try and use red state national guards, he’s still have to filter, and ship them across the country so they’re not acting against their own neighbors

          The logistics would be a nightmare even for a competent leader. This admin can not handle something so complicated. It would be a failure, but likely a bloody one.

          • Auli@lemmy.ca
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            10 days ago

            You have high expectations. From what I have seen of the system lately they’d just allow it and nothing would happen. Maybe some protests but nothing big as that would be to inconvenient for people.

            • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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              10 days ago

              You have high expectations

              I have reason to, and not that you should just blindly believe me, but I’ve got a pretty good track record on predicting how shit shakes out.

              Cancelling elections is a big line, and he just can’t count on the military.

              Hell, Vance would almost certainly work against him.

              There’s a long line of people who want to fill Trump’s void in 2028, and they won’t be happy if trump refuses to step down.

              Like, it wouldn’t be a great thing to live thru. A lot of damage will be done and people will die. But trump just doesn’t have the juice for it without Musk’s money and willingness to spend.

              Even other billionaires won’t light money on fire for trump like musk did.

      • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        their egos are too big to make up

        That’s where you’re wrong. They both constantly rewrite the past in their own memories. Shit one takes massive doses of disassociatves and the other can’t be bothered to digest a single thought. They can make up and act like nothing ever happened and they’re both the greatest. To hold a grudge you need to be able to hold a coherent opinion on anything and not exist in a perpetual stream of consciousness.

        • PotatoLibre@feddit.it
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          11 days ago

          Reasonable thinking, expecially when we talk about the two actual main persons in the country and all the people and responsibilities around them.

          Narcissists surround themselves of yes people, let’s see if those guys has cleared the area properly.

        • Diplomjodler@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          While both are wildly irrational and one is downright mentally incompetent, if they have one thing in common it’s holding on to grudges.

          • ✺roguetrick✺@lemmy.world
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            11 days ago

            Oh I’m not saying that they don’t engage in extreme attacks on who they consider their enemies. But Trump rapidly flips on who his enemy and who his friend is based on the situation. He’s had that relationship with most of the GOP. Without the staff I honestly don’t think he’d be able to keep it together. Sometimes he shifts based straight up on who he’s in the room with and how they’re treating him at that exact moment. What I’m trying to say is there’s no actual calculation or payback in his mind. It’s entirely binary and subject to rapid shifts. Classic black and white thinking/cluster b splitting.

      • danc4498@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        Trump has probably made enough money off illegal crypto bribes that he can afford to dump musk.

      • msprout@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        I don’t understand. This was quite possibly the most predictable thing that could have happened. Trump has a 40 year history of stiffing creditors and vendors. There has never been anything transactional about him, he just does this same thing over and over. Like there’s a reason that people have been saying, “a Trump never pays his debts” since like 2015.

      • P00ptart@lemmy.world
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        11 days ago

        The knights Templar were the bank that kept the French crown in power, the crown was indebted to the monastic order. As that wasn’t ideal, went to the pope and had them excommunicated and rounded up on Friday the 13th.

        One of these men will go.

    • msprout@lemmy.world
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      11 days ago

      I kept seeing people saying that this is all performative and that they’re both in on it, but idk, I was raised by narcissists and this is basically the exact same fight playing out on the global stage that played out weekly in my childhood living room.

      • Zagam@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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        11 days ago

        Even if it was pretend to start with they’re both so sensitive and need to be right, it’ll turn into a real fight soon enough. But I agree, neither is clever enough to pretend this. For that you need professional wrestling level acting skills.

      • sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        11 days ago

        Yep, same, exactly.

        This is way, way too in depth to be an elaborately staged, intetional hyperreality performance.

        These two just actually are this stupid, this self-centered, this insecure and ego driven.

        If this is some kind of an act, it would require both of them to have been method acting at Daniel Day Lewis levels for about a decade with no breaks.

        Its ‘performative’ in the sense of intentionally being catty, shit-disturbing, dramatic, old men acting like the cast of the Mean Girls… but it is not performative in the sense of ‘entirely staged to fool us dumb rubes.’

        That being said, this all still does function as a grand distraction to any other person or kind of nefarious nonsense… but no, these two are having the messiest, most high stakes, most public breakup in probably the history of the world right now, and they are both totally genuine.

        … It is also arguably the funniest way concievable for the American Empire / Era to end.

        How in the fuck do you write a history book about this in 20 years?

        … I don’t fucking know, but I do know I want Larry David to write a script for a ‘The Death of Stalin’ style movie about the last 9 months.

        EDIT: Wait! Mel Brooks is still alive somefucking how, get in him in the writing room too!

        • grue@lemmy.world
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          11 days ago

          EDIT: Wait! Mel Brooks is still alive somefucking how, get in him in the writing room too!

          I think this might be lethal levels of irony even for him.

      • thefartographer@lemm.ee
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        11 days ago

        The Attention Whore Wars of the mid-20s were a dark time indeed. Now, eat your microplastics, American Express℠ presents Taco Bell®'s Doritos® Chinga Dos Culos™ featuring LG®ThinQ Dualsense™ Technology Jr.

  • megopie@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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    11 days ago

    Lmao, two idiots fighting. This seemed kind of inevitable, they’re not compatible personality types to work with each other.

    Elon definitely thinks he has more influence with trump’s crowd than he actually has, but I also think his position at twitter makes him dangerous to trump by undermining his ability to reach a lot of people who haven’t fully crawled down the maga conspiracy pipeline.

    I don’t think he’s going to be able to shift much support to Vance ether. Vance and his ilk are just to weird for most trump supporters.

  • Jolly Platypus@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    If anyone could make a conviction happen, it’s Musk. He need only threaten to fund primary challengers for 10 Republicans in the house and ~15 senators.

    He’s got the money to do it.

  • foggy@lemmy.world
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    11 days ago

    I mean I agree but what a little piss ant, lol.

    Very “Kick me out of your club, huh? Well see about that …”

  • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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    11 days ago

    This is like hearing the school saying the two biggest bullies are going to fight in the yard after school

    Everyone knows that one of them can’t hit any thing harder than a pillow and the other always chickens out against any opponent unless the person they’ll punch is held down by four guys.

    The entire school knows that this shit show is a circus that will just be full of drama and no fighting … but we’re all going to head out onto the yard anyway to laugh at how stupid these idiots are going perform.

    I’ll see you all on the yard after the last bell at 3pm